Saturday, July 2, 2011

Review: Loving on Borrowed Time by Olivia Cunning

Lara Kensington is living a perfectly mundane life as a museum curator, when bad boy treasure hunter, Reece Jerhico, leaps into her life. Literally. Obviously distressed, Reece tells Lara that one year in the future she will be murdered. The evidence he uses to back up his incredible story doesn’t convince Lara. She thinks he’s crazy. Especially after he claims to be her future fiancé. Lara would have remembered dating someone as delicious as Reece Jerhico. Hot as Reece is, Lara has a difficult time believing anything the man says until the broken amulet he wears around his neck transports them into different bodies, during a different time, in a different place--an ancient place, a cold place, a place where Lara arrives naked, hysterical, and... Norse. On the run through time, attempting to escape a man who is hell-bent on Lara’s lack-of a-future becoming a reality, the couple must leap from one time and place to another just to stay alive. In the first volume of this sexy and humorous new series, Lara and Reece share an existence with a ruthless Viking and his captive bride and then with a noble medieval knight and the feisty lady he is determined to win.

Olivia Cunning is one of my favorite new authors. Her Sinners On Tour series is everything that a girl with a few rockstar fantasies could ask for. Therefore, when I read an article over at Shameless Romance in which Olivia Cunning talks about her new self-published novella, Loving on Borrowed Time, I first berated myself for not being up-to-date on my Olivia Cunning news and then immediately bought the book so I can read it for myself.

What I found is that Loving on Borrowed Time is a fun and entertaining read that includes a few of Cunning's trademark smokin' hot love scenes. Although the love scenes aren't quite as provocative as the Sinners books, you will certainly need some type of fan or cool drink nearby when you read this book. Fans of Cunning will definitely not be disappointed. Also, the actual romance between the main characters Lara Kenningston and Reece Jericho is quite well done. Cunning truly has a talent for creating easy chemistry between characters. Reece and Lara also have some great banter that will keep you laughing and of course, there is lots of sexual tension between the pair. Although this book was a short read, I didn't feel their relationship was rushed even though Reece does make it his mission to make Lara fall in love with him again...or I guess for the first time.

The premise of the book itself is interesting and original, although it is complicated to understand at first. In the book, we learn that in the future, Reece and Lara fall in love and plan to marry. However, Lara is killed by a terrorist. Rather than living without her, Reece, who is an archaeologist, uses an ancient Egyptian amulet to travel back in time and save Lara from being killed. But one of Reece's colleagues, Carl, doesn't want Lara to live for reasons I'm still not 100% sure about. Things aren't exactly straight forward about how the amulet works, but basically when the wearer of the amulet is thrust back in time, they embody a particular person in the past. So when Reece grabs Lara and uses the amulet to escape before Carl stops him from saving Lara, they travel to the time of the Vikings and Reece becomes the leader of a Viking horde and Lara a saucy wench he captures. In their different roles, Reece and Lara must act out history and make sure the couple they embody have their HEA. All the while they are still on the run from Carl...

Still with me? Yeah, I got a little lost too. I think the book would have been better if there was more explanation about how the amulet works. I am still scratching my head about why Reece and Lara seem to travel in time randomly, yet Reece was able to pinpoint Lara in a museum a year before they met. Also, I would have appreciated more info about how Reece and Lara met before she was killed. Yes, we know they were in love and Reece had to win Lara over, but there isn't a lot of info about Reece and Lara's courtship and life before her death. Since Loving on Borrowed Time is the first book in Cunning's Lovers' Leap series, I'm hoping that we learn more about Reece and Lara's past (future?) relationship and the motivation behind creepy Carl wanting to apprehend the couple.

Although Loving on Borrowed Time is a little complicated to understand at times, I still really enjoyed reading this novella. I applaud Ms. Cunning for expertly using her imagination to create something that is whimsical and fun to read. Reece and Lara are two great characters that have great chemistry. And the sex scenes in the book were top notch. Definitely what I would expect from the likes of Olivia Cunning. I hope more authors continue the trend of self-publishing.